Peters



(No Model.) E; G. COLEMAN.

ELEGTRIG HOUSE BELL.

No. 360,660. Patented Apr. 5, 1887.

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INVENTOR 1.

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- a perspective view of a bell-board which has UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDYVARD GEORGE COLEMAN, OF ST. JOHNS, NElVFOUNDLAND.

ELECTRIC HOUSE-BELL.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 360,660, dated April 5, 1887.

Application filed June 26, 1886. Serial No. 206,379.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, EDWARD GEORGE COLE run, a British subject, residing at St. J ohns, in the island of Newfoundland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric House-Bells, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a means for converting ordinary house-bells into electric bells in such away as to utilize the ordinary pulls, pull-wires, and bell-carriages.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is been altered for the addition of electric bells lll accordance with my invention. Fig. 1" is a diagram of the electric bell and annunciatormagnets. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a bellboard with its carriages in different conditions. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section in the plane of the line 3 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of one of the contact attachments detached, and Fig. 5 is a plan thereof.

Let A designate the bell-board, and B B the carriages or bell-levers, which are of the construction heretofore used with mechanicallyringing house-bells. The carriage B consists of a bent lever, a, pivoted on a stud, b, which projects from a plate, 0, which is fastened to the board by screws, and held in place thereon by a head or disk, d, which is screwed onto the end of the stud. A spring, 0, is coiled around the stud, its inner end being fixed thereto and its outer end being hooked over the horizontal part a of the lever, so that the spring exerts a tension against the lever, drawing it firmly against a fixed pin or stop, f. The pull-wire g is connected to the upper end of the lever, and when pulled acts against, the tension of the spring and draws the lever over, being able to pull it until it strikes the stop a.

In the ordinary construction of house-bells, the bell G is mounted on a spring, D, which is fastened to the lower end of the lever a by means of a nut, i, screwing on a screw formed on the lever, all as shown at B in Fig. 2, which represents a carriage that has not yet been altered according to my invention.

Having thus described the ordinary construction of house-bells to which my inven- (No model.)

the respective annunciator-magnets M M, each of which actuates one of the drops. A wire, u, leads from all the magnets to a rheotome, R, (or other electric bell,) and from this a wire, y, leads out of the box.

The bell-board is fitted up in the following manner: First, the bells C O and their springs D D are removed. Then some contact attachments, F F, the construction of which will be presently described, are fastened to the boardone to each carriage. At the same time the board is fitted with circuit-wires, connecting with the several carriages and contact attachments. As many binding-postsmm are fixed to the board as there are carriages, and each is connected by a wire, 0, (shown in dotted lines,) to its respective carriage. Another binding-post, n, is connected by a wire, 00, (shown by a dotted line,) to the several contact attachments F F.

The binding-posts m m are connected by the wires w w to the an nunciator, where the wires go to the respective magnets, as above de scribed, and the single wire y, proceeding from the annunciator, extends thence to the battery Q, and from the opposite pole of the battery another wire, 2, extends to the bindingpost a. The wires :0, z, w, and y constitute the undivided portion of the circuit, which is divided by the wires 1; 10 into as many branches as thereare bells. Each of these branches is normally open, being closed when any one of i even a short distance its lower end, j, (or the nut 5,) touches the arm G, and if the pulling of the lever be continued it displaces the arm, forcing it back.

The contact attachment is constructed as follows: On a base-plate, q, is fixed a standard, q, the shape of which is immaterial, but which is shown as of U shape. Tothis standard the arm G is pivoted by means of a pivotstud, 1-, as best shown in Fig. 3. The spring s,on which the arm G is seated,is coiled around thls stud, one end being fixed to the arm at t, and the other end being fixed to the standard at i. The tension of this spring throws the arm G to the left, against a stop, a, which retains it in an upright position. A plate, 1), is first fastened to the board and hasa screwstud, p, projecting from it. The plate q is placed against this plate, with the stud projecting through its slot q", and, being moved laterally to the proper place, is fastened by a nut, 19', screwing on the stud. The lever a forms one terminal of one ofthe branches ofthe circuit, and the arm G forms the other terminal thereof. \Vhen the lever is pulled until it touches the arm, as shown at B in Fig. 2, the circuit is closed between them, and the corresponding annunciator is operated. Only this amount of movement of the levera is necessary to close the circuit; but in most instances the lever will be pulled farther,thereby displacing the arm G, as shown at 13* in Fig. 2, where the lever is pulled completely over, and is stopped by striking the pin h. The circuit will continue closed as long as the lever remains pulled, and will be broken when the lever is released and returns to its position of rest, as shown at B in Fig. 2. The movement of the lever a in displacing the arm G effects a sliding contact between them, which keeps the contacting surfaces bright and clean, thus obviating the necessity of coating them with platinum to preventtheiroxidation, and hence proportionally cheapening the construction.

My invention involves no alteration of the bell-wires g 9 throughout the house nor 6f the bell-pulls. In Fig. 1 I have shown one wire 9 connected to one of the carriages, and extending from apull, P, which may be located in any part of the house, as heretofore.

In many cases bells have got out of order by the stretching of the wires or from other cause, so that the lever a moves very slightly and not sufficiently to ring a suspended bell, O. In such instances, when applying my invention, it is not necessary to correct the defeet, as a very slight movement of the lever (1, even as slight as that shown at B is sufficient to effect the requisite closing of the circuit and the consequent operation of the electric hell.

In order to prevent any leakage of the electric current through the pull-wires, as might in some cases derange the operation of the electric hell or annunciator, I insulate each wiregfrom the lever a, to which it is connected. This is done by means of an insulator, R, of suitable material, which is essentially a link, and which is connected at one end to the lever a and at the other to the wire 9, as shown.

My invention is not entirely limited in its application to the converting of old bell-carriages; but its essential'parts may, if desired, be employed in new constructions.

-. Any suitable construction of electric annunciator may be employed-such, for in-- stance,as a series of pendulums, one or other of which is caused to swing when the corresponding bell is rung.

My invention, when arranged as described, operates on an open circuit; but it is obv1ous that this condition might be reversed, so as to operate with a closed circuit without departing from the essential features of my invention. For instance, the contact attachment might be placed on the opposite side of the carriage, so that normally the arm G is in contact with the lever a,- but when the lever is pulled the contact is broken.

Iam aware that electric circuit-closing attachments have been operated through the medium of pull-wires, these wires being all connected, through a series of complicated connections in an annunciator, to a single levcr, which, when displaced by the pulling of any one of the pull-wires, presses together two contact-springs and closes the circuit. This device, however, is not adapted to the utilization of the existing system of wires and levers for mechanically ringing bells in houses, so that the latter can be converted into electric bells by the mere removal of the mechanical bells and the addition of circuit-closing attachments and circuit-wires, which is the distinguishing feature of my invention. The eonstrnction referred to could not be applied to the existing house-bells without disconnecting every pull-wire and reconnecting them all to the levers of the annunciator, the labor and expense of which would be nearly if not quite equivalent to rewiring the house with electric circuit-wires throughout.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of a bell-board, two or more bell-levers for ordinary mechanicallyringing bells on said board, two or more pulls and pull-wires connected to said levers respectively, electric contact attaehmentsone for each lever-arranged on said board in position to be touched by the respective levers when the latter are pulled, an electric indicator, an electric circuit divided into as many branches as there are pulls, each branch including one of the electromagnets of said indicator and having its opposite terminals in one of said levers and its contact attachment, and an electrically-actuated bell in said circuit, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the usualbellboard and bell-lever, of a contact attachment consisting of a standard and a spring-seated contact-arm pivoted thereto with a laterallyadjustable attachment for securing said standard to the board, whereby the arm may be contactarm pivoted thereto, a plate, and a adjusted relatively to the bell-lever, substanslotted connection between said plate and the tially as set forth. base-plate of said standard, whereby said plate 3. An electric contact attachment for housemay be attached to abell-board and the stand- 15 5 bells, consisting of a standard, a contact-arm ard may be adjusted thereon to different popivoted thereto, a spring for pressing said sitions, combined substantially as set forth.

arm forward, anda stop for limiting the for St. J oh'ns, Newfoundland, March 29, 1886.

Ward movement of said arm, combined sub- EDXVARD GEORGE COLEMAN.

stantially as set forth. XVitnesses: 1o 4. An electric Contact attachment for house- COLIN CAMPBELL,

bells, consisting ofa standard, aspring-seated 1 ALEX. J. W. MoNEILY. 

